Fitness was my life - but I still needed a heart bypass: Former footballer Terry Gibson tells how a nagging back pain turned out to be a sign of blocked arteries

Former soccer star Terry Gibson had always been in peak health – or so he thought – until a nagging pain started in his back.

The ache which Terry, 47, dismissed as indigestion turned out to be a life-threatening heart condition. His arteries were so badly blocked that he had to undergo a quintuple heart bypass last year.

The diagnosis came as a complete shock for Terry, who played for Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson and later helped Wimbledon win the 1988 FA Cup final against Liverpool, because his life has been dominated by sport and exercise.

Bouncing back: Terry Gibson, centre, with members of the Whipps Cross cardiac rehab team

More than a year later, he is still adjusting to life post-surgery, which means taking statins to lower his cholesterol levels and maintaining a strict diet.

‘I’m not fanatical but food shopping takes longer now because I’m so aware of what I eat,’ says Terry.

‘Without the operation I may not have survived. It makes you wonder how long you have got left when something like this happens.’

In hindsight, there were warning signs that Terry, now a Sky Sports commentator, might be at risk of heart disease.

His uncle Melvyn suffered a heart attack aged just 38, his mother Doris had angina and his father, also called Terry, died of a heart attack in his 60s.

Terry, who lives in Essex with Paula, his wife of 27 years, says: ‘Although I had close family members who had heart problems, I didn’t really think I would suffer from this.’

It was only after his bypass operation that he learned how lucky he was not to have suffered a heart attack. Tests showed that one of his arteries was blocked in two places and the flow of blood to his heart could have stopped at any minute.

It'll never happen to me: As a professional athlete, Terry, seen here playing for Manchester United in 1986, was always extremely fit

When doctors carried out an exercise electrocardiogram (ECG) on Terry, he lasted only two out of a maximum six minutes on a treadmill.

His heart operation was in May 2009 at the Humana Wellington Hospital in London’s St John’s Wood just weeks after he started getting chest pains.

‘I’d gone to drop a rented car off and decided to walk back instead of taking the Tube. For the first 20 minutes I felt fine but then I got this sudden pain in my back as though I’d eaten something too quickly.

‘I sat down and tried to walk again but the pain came back.’

The pain did not go away and Paula suggested that Terry, who retired from football in 1995, should see his GP. The doctor diagnosed a heart problem and sent Terry for an angiogram where liquid dye was injected into his arteries to make them visible under X-ray.

‘They thought I’d got angina at first and then that just one artery was blocked,’ recalls Terry.

‘But the angiogram showed just how bad my condition was. We had to tell my 21-year-old son Joshua, who was at college in America, and my daughter Chloe, who is 24. It was awful.’

The surgery was carried out by cardiac consultant Steven Edmondson. Terry prepared himself by watching a video of the procedure on YouTube. In his case, doctors removed a blood vessel from his leg to bypass the blocked arteries and improve blood flow to his heart.

Adjusting to life after such a major

operation was hard, admits Terry.

‘Walking again after two days in intensive care, I had a panic
attack. I just froze. You have all this pain from the trauma of the
op,’ he says.

Also key to his recovery was the ‘amazing’ rehab care provided by
Whipps Cross University Hospital. There, 12 weeks after surgery, Terry
was put through a tough regime of two circuit training sessions a week.

Now he coaches other patients to play in a five-a-side football
team, a brainchild of Brian Coleman, senior cardiac nurse at Whipps
Cross. Terry also hopes to turn out for Rod Stewart’s team, the
Vagabond Old Boys, who play on the pop star’s estate in Epping, Essex.

Terry says: ‘The rehab care was invaluable and has allowed me to live the full life I used to have. I still love soccer.

‘Rod was a bit worried about me dropping down dead in his back
garden after my scare but it won’t be long before I'm back in form.

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Former footballer Terry Gibson: 'Fitness was my life but I still needed a heart bypass'